58-year-old Dalit farmer beaten to death over minor dispute in UP

PILIBHIT: A 58-year-old Dalit farmer was beaten to death with sticks by his three neighbours in Pilibhit district’s Semar Gautia village under Barkhera police station on Friday night.

Officials said that the murder was the result of a long-standing personal enmity between the two neighbours over a minor issue. Soon after getting information about the crime, Bisalpur circle officer Praveen Kumar Malik rushed to the spot along with a police team. “Tulsi Ram was allegedly battered to death by Bhoora, Madan Lal and his son Raju. Both the accused and the victim had encroached upon village road. While the former had installed a diesel engine set for water pumping on a portion of the road, the latter had constructed a thatched bathroom there. Both wanted the other’s property to be removed,” Malik said.

Komil Prasad, the victim’s son, said that the three men barged into their house late in the night and started assaulting his father with sticks. “They hurled casteist slurs at us and threatened to kill our entire family. I somehow managed to make a call to Dial 100. A police team arrived soon and rushed my father to a nearby community centre, where he was declared brought dead,” the grieving son said.

Meanwhile, the SHO of Barkhera police station, RK Bharadwaj, told TOI that an FIR has been registered against the three accused under sections 452 (house trespass), 302 (murder), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, apart from sections of the SC/ST Act. “While Madan Lal has been arrested, the other two accused are on the run. We will catch them soon,” the SHO said.